Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Gaming Ballistic's next project is Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip.

Check out the preview here:

A few more details to handle, and launch...probably tomorrow morning!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Count me in!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

That link doesn't seem to work quite right for me. I had to chop off an extra "http://" at the beginning to get it to work, like so.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I've been stoked about this one for a while! And, it's tomorrow morning!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I'm super excited to back these. I'll be sharing them across my (limited) social media reach via Twitter, RPGPub.com, and that's it!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Thanks. Will fix. Did that from phone, so was more challenging than usual.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Can't wait to see them! Will be going in for print.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Can you handle the peril?

Gaming Ballistic, LLC is pleased to bring four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip to Kickstarter.

Four Perilous Journeys consists of four 16-page adventures; two each by David Pulver and the writing team of Christopher R. Rice and J. Edward Tremlett.

The Kickstarter is now LIVE!

Check it out, and then see what exciting surprises Steve Jackson Games and Gaming Ballistic have in store as the campaign progresses.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Pledged! Good luck with your campaign.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Thanks, Lars!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I really like the primary piece of artwork for the Kickstarter campaign.

It evokes a great mood and theme with interesting, detailed characters.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I am so in, Doug! For print... ;-)

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

That’s by Dean Spencer. He does great Stock Art and I’m on his Patreon.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

This looks great. My Kickstarter money is somewhat limited (and Decks of Destiny has eaten it all) but I am going to buy these when they come out!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Alackaday, not in the same month as Decks for me either.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

What a team! How did Nick Fury get you all to work together on one project?

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

There was at least one tranquilizer dart involved, and someone had to kill Phil Coulson. We were all very upset about it, and leaped into action.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

And we're off! With a roar, in fact.

First update is posted! We're nearly 50% funded on Day 1 (and day ain't over yet). With more than four full weeks to go, it's going to be a fun ride!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

RICE SMASH!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Bribery. Reverse psychology. A pack of trading cards.

The usual

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I'm in for $20 for the PDFs. The printed books would be nice, but I'm interested in the content more than the format.

Looking forward to them!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I truly love Dead Trees, and would greatly prefer to have it in print, but that's a mighty big jump in price over the PDFs. I believe I shall have to forego the Dead Trees, and settle for Aether.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Dead Trees for me. I've gradually come to realise that I don't actually use things if they're in electronic format. I'll flick through them but that's it. I only ever use things if they're physical copies.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Same. I own a few gaming books as pdf and basically never even look at them.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I went in at the $20 level because I just threw down with the I Want All The Newness for the Decks of Destiny. I may upgrade before the deadline. It depends on a bunch of other factors like just this week having to buy a new computer. Sigh.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Depends on the length of the PDF for me. I've tried to use PDFs at the gaming table in a tablet, and but my tablets always choke on PDF game books, or stall out and take forever to open them (or change pages), so gave up on that and get printed books too. Though I like having the PDFs for my actual desktop computer.

But a 16-page PDF? That should work fine.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I like both. Print reads better, except the small rulebooks in TFT which are nicely enlarged. PDF is more portable. Can’t take Legacy box on deployment. Can take PDFs on deployment!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Can't take Legacy box anywhere, without a forklift.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I'm another vote for dead tree -- if I don't have it physically in front of me, I forget all about it. But this month is kicking my A$$!!! Two major Kickstarters, three minor ones, an unexpected Vet bill for the dog, and now I just found out that my pre-order copy of Bar Lev from Compass Games is going to get charged on or about 31 May! It's tight!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Me too — and that is indeed the correct way to spell it, in this case. I have tried to be Good, and restrain my Kickstarting impulses; I even decided to (mostly) ignore anything that wasn't specifically from SJG. But SJG cheated, using telepathic spies to learn my weakness, and they started doing all these new Kickstarters every three days or so, so now I'm gonna have to find out whether my printer can do passable counterfeiting or something.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

:-) Yes, I chose the dollar signs intentionally! :-)

And I've had to back out of two other Kickstarters I really wanted to back (and may have to do so with a third if things continue as they are) thanks primarily to the dog's run-in with a dead tree branch. Ah well, sometime if it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all! *sigh* Dogs and kids...what're ya gonna do?

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Looks good!

...and backed.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Thank you! (now spread the word . . . we're about 60% funded, but 60% isn't 100%, and we can't get the cool stuff planned as stretch goals if we don't hit 100% first!)

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Don't forget that you're free to promote Four Perilous Journeys on the TFT Discord server throughout the entire campaign.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

The Kickstarter campaign for Four Perilous Journeys: New Adventures for The Fantasy Trip is LIVE on Kickstarter, and going strong.

In the first week, we've surpassed 77% of the funding goal, which bodes well. In the coming weeks, look for cross-promotional opportunities with the ongoing Decks of Destiny campaign from SJG. Printed tokens, NPC and monster cards, and other goodies are all in discussion.

No matter what, though, these will be add-ons and stretch goals - if the project funds, we have a shot. If it doesn't, none of it happens.

I've got a great slate of adventures being worked by folks who know what they're doing. They've written for The Fantasy Trip before, and I think you'll enjoy what they have written.

Check out Four Perilous Journeys on Kickstarter!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I actually waffled a bit on this kickstarter, because, sadly, I haven't actually played TFT since I got my Legacy box (not even solo). Combination of no time and no group to inspire me to play.

But, I'm in for print, so hopefully, we make it!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I appreciate it!

There are quite a few folks 'on the fence,' or as I like to call it: Latent Demand.

364 people are following the campaign but have not (yet) backed. Given the average pledge level, that's a 'latent' $15,000, which would of course take us to just over $28,000 and over 650 backers, which would make it my strongest KS to date.

I still think there's room for even more: there were 3,300 original backers for TFT, and 1,300 folks went in for TFT Adventures. That leaves 2,000 people clearly lacking in adventure material. ;-)

The biggest thing folks can help me with now is getting the word out. Nice things said on Twitter, Facebook, and the various RPG sites by *not the author* go a ridiculously long way in getting attention to the project.

Of course, I know some folks are waiting to see what nifty extras are in for the stretch goals, but if the project doesn't fund, any number of add-ons or stretch goals are irrelevant!

Thanks for your support! I look forward to sharing previews and updates with folks as progress is made.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Honestly, 'sxtras' aren't much of a factor in my own hesitation. If the primary offering interests me enough to follow it in the first place, then my only hesitation is over money — whether I can afford it at all, or (in this case) which level to choose. I know I want Four Perilous Journeys; I just don't know if I want to pay X for Aether or 2.5X for Dead Trees.

But I do want it in some form, and Funding is a prerequisite for either, so I just went ahead and pledged for Aether — and I suppose I can always upgrade to Dead Trees later, if I happen to scrape another 1.5X out of the sofa cushions. :)

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Thanks. I do appreciate it.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Castle Ironskull: Rumors and Background


Her castle held deadly enchantments, crafted with arcane lore
Creations of blood and hunger, weapons of death and war.
Her old soldiers have arisen, yet their bodies have grown cold.
Now she deals in eldritch arms, and counts her bloodstained gold.

The Ironskulls were a famous mercenary force consisting of very experienced troops (both human and gargoyle), plus a squad of wizards. Their final commander was Raelle Ironskull, a ruthless sorceress and tactician. She was seconded by the nomad wizard/necromancer called “the Laughing Storm,” and the monstrous, evil-eyed Lord Snerg and his two siblings.

Most of the Ironskulls died in the fight for Blackbird Keep. Raelle took the keep, but when the sponsor of the raid on Blackbird Keep reneged on the bargain, she kept it for herself. She renamed it "Castle Ironskull" and retired there with her few surviving retainers

Those who expected her to live the life of a country gentlewoman were disappointed. Long a connoisseur of magical weapons, she used this knowledge, her own collection, and her connections in the mercenary business to begin a new business venture: Eldritch Arms. She is becoming the land's foremost dealer in enchanted weapons.

There are many rumors about what lies in the vaults of Castle Ironskull. Among the legends of its contents include:

• The Eternal Goat, a living artifact that will regenerate body parts carved from it, allowing endless rations for a company of soldiers or besieged town. Once a year, the Goat must be fed...and it has peculiar appetites.
• The sacred Axe of Azinora, a weapon with a storied history, wielded by a succession of warrior priestesses and female paladins.
• The great ruby-hilted sword called Ravenous, which serves only those who thirst for flesh and blood.
• They hold the Diadem of the Dragon Princess, a coming-of-age gift for the beloved daughter of a mighty warlord. The threat of awakening the four dragons frozen in its fabulous jewels was such that she never used it: It was buried with her. Tomb robbers acquired and sold the mummy and crown to Raelle.

Castle Ironskull is more than a little setting and background. Raelle and the, um, remains of her unusual mercenary company would make sense as adversaries, targets, patrons, or simply a faction that exists in order to make the PCs lives more than a bit more interesting.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Two weeks in: 93% funded

So, we're at Day 14 and 93% funded on Four Perilous Journeys. Nordvorn, my best-to-date Kickstarter took 20 days to get to this point. So while I'd dearly love to have that extra 7% right the heck now, I must force myself to realize that we're on a fairly typical trajectory for a Kickstarter.

Editing Status

There was a round of playtesting and some further commentary on Ironskull Castle. Caught a few typos and inconsistencies, and two logical "WTF?" moments. They've been fixed. Through Memorial Day, I'll be editing the manuscripts for content and flow; preliminary layouts of the edited manuscripts should be in place, therefore, by the end of Monday. That will allow me to get playtest copies out to the Master and Commander backers for the other three adventures.

Die-cut Tokens

I've been spending a lot of time looking at die-cut tokens and cards. I can report:

• I've found a way to make them.
• The art is still going to be the expensive part; this not a surprise.
• The die-cut tokens will be in full color; black and white versions of the tokens will appear as "print them yourself" on the last page of each book.

I've contracted with one of my artists to make a trial sheet. He should be getting back to me with 42 sketches based on the characters in Ironskull Castle sometime today or tomorrow. At that point, I'll place an order for a prototype and have it express-shipped to me.

Once I have the prototype in hand, I'll put the add-on officially in the campaign. They'll be $10 per sheet, and you'll be able to choose which sheets you want ad-hoc in the Backerkit cart phase of the project.

If you are so confident that you'll be getting tokens, you can certainly up your pledge now (if for some reason it all falls apart, you can reduce your pledge before the end of the campaign) which would help us fund. If 10% of current backers each go in for token sheets, we fund.

Oh, and for mini-stretch-goals: If I can 100 or more of any one sheet, I'll upgrade the board from 1.6mm to 2.5mm at no extra cost for that sheet. Another very important note: This is a THING, not a BOOK, and will follow a different logistics train than the books. This means international shipping, customs, and taxes could be egregiously high, and I won't know that until the end. Please plan accordingly.

NPC and Monster Cards
I'm working on these as well. I have had excellent help from SJG on this, and they've really gone above and beyond to make this happen. I can't report anything yet, but I can say anything produced will be identical in form factor to existing cards of similar function. No promises on making "a card for each token" decks yet, though I'd very much like to do that . . . so I'm working on it. If things go to plan and I'm ready with "all but the art" drafts of all four adventures by Monday (and doubly so if we've funded by then), this will get most of my attention.

Current and Latent Backers
We're holding steady at 372 "latent" backers, who are following but not yet pledged. That's a potential for as much as $30,000 or so: enough to get us through all of the announced Decks of Destiny stretch goals and within easy striking distance of an offset print run.

I'm getting the books re-quoted using the same printer in the EU I'm using for my Dungeon Fantasy RPG projects; maybe that offset print run can come down if it's a good price.

The key for us now is two-fold:

• Entice those following the project to jump in. We need only 27 new backers to fund, if they come in at the current average pledge.
• Get the word out to others. That's Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, MeWe, gaming forums, and nice things and reminders on the existing TFT comment lists. A word from a backer is worth way, way more than what always feels like a continual barrage of spam from the creator.

The halfway point for Four Perilous Journeys is Thursday. Let's see if we can fund by then!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Do you think you’ll be able to ship the counter sheets from within the EU to backers in the EU?

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Not at this time. I will look for local sources in the EU but right now it’s not available.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Understood. Please give a shout if it becomes possible.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

FUNDED! And Offset printing, and tokens, and . . .

This update is a big one. Not only did we fund, but . . . well, I'll let you read it.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Wow. This is amazing! I think I might have to go a week without eating, but I *MUST* have it ALL!!!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Once I figure out exactly WHAT that means ("have it all") in terms of work content and critical path to complete, I very well may introduce an "I want it all!" tier for All the Things. That may wind up costing me some money as IWIA will likely involve some discounting, and I'd expect/encourage folks to switch over. But until I know what those items will be, how many, how hard to make . . . we'll leave it as-is.

But these next two weeks will be dynamic as heck.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Wow. That's a huge leap in one update. Behold the power of thresholds.

The physical pieces (tokens, megahexes, etc) add a lot of value in my mind. I like books for their own sake as much as many, but the product in adventures (or core rules) is information. Getting that cheaper is good; getting it more accessible, as with searchable PDFs, is also good. But if you're playing FTF, then the game pieces have to have physicality, and so they're a reason to buy a physical product.

(Which I suppose raises a question: does anyone release digital product like the image files for the tokens, so that you can convert them to VTT tokens and the like? Some PDFs you can take apart to get the image files of NPCs and so on -- or often just screenshot them -- but it seems there's a little corner open there.)

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Some of the new information, such as the super-duper-outstanding quote from my printer, only arrived on my desk this morning. It also didn't make a lot of sense to make promises of cards, hexes, or tortellini casserole when the base product wasn't underpinned.

As I've said elsewhere, I know what happend: I recorded the POD pricing formula for DriveThru (something like $1.61 + 0.0202 per page, minimum 18 pages) but did NOT multiply it by four to capture that each book is printed separately. At the same time the quote has a fairly steep cost of setup (offset always does) but a MUCH more friendly unit cost (offset always does). Additionally, it seems the setup cost is discounted heavily by printing four books at once.

So boom. Offset's break-even point suddenly shifted LOWER than the current number of physical 4-book orders already placed. Not only will be adventures be better quality, they're more economical to make as well . . . which allows me to confidently offer them up to retailers for distribution.

Thanks for that thorough explanation. It rings true.

I can say that the last page of each of the four adventures is going to be a black and white version of the color tokens. You have, though, given me an interesting thought on which I will follow up.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

That's terrific; congratulations! As a 'hard copy' backer, I'll appreciate it if the campaign page can update to include a concrete and easy to find list of which things I get with my core pledge and which I'll have to raise my funding level to get (and by how much). I'm a little unsure of these things as it stands.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

OK. I can do that.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I've revamped the Four Perilous Journeys campaign by adding a few new stretch goals and adding some "all the things" pledge levels, which include the new reward items.


NPC/Creature Deck

For quick reference and easy play at the table, nothing beats the utility of a printed NPC or monster card.

The basic add-on will be 42 cards in the "Creature and Wizard" size: 3.5 x 5". These will be printed on quality UV-gloss coated stock for maximum compatibility with dry-erase markers.

There is not a unique card deck per adventure: there's a single deck that draws from the selection of creatures that come with the adventures, including the solo adventure if we hit the $21,000 stretch goal.

The "deck" will also be available in PDF format.

• PDF: $20
• Physical Card Deck: $40

Token Sheets

Each adventure has creatures and NPCs to fight, negotiate with, or charm. While print-your-own tokens are on the last page in each adventure, this add-on gets you a COLOR version of that page. Each sheet contains 42 1" square tokens depicting the creatures and characters from the adventure. There is a separate sheet for each adventure; if you want a physical sheet for each adventure, you'll want to increase your pledge by $10 per sheet.

• PDF: $5 each
• Print: $10 each

All the Digital Things! ($50)


This pledge level includes a PDF of all the rewards offered in the campaign in digital format.

• PDFs of all of the Perilous Journeys: Four at the moment, but if we cross $21,000, the fifth adventure - a 32-page solo by David Pulver - gets added as well.
• Color PDFs of the token sheets that come with the adventure. This is to support those with print-it-yourself aspirations who have quality color inkjet or laser printers
• Color PDFs of all the NPC/Monster cards, with a hyperlinked table of contents for quick reference

These are discounted as a bundle from their price as individual add-ons (see below for item pricing)

Bring Me The Things. All of Them. ($110)

This is the place for those that must loot and pillage. This pledge level includes a PDF of all the rewards offered in the campaign in physical AND digital format.

• Print and PDF copies of all of the Perilous Journeys: Four at the moment, but if we cross $21,000, the fifth adventure - a 32-page solo by David Pulver - gets added as well!
• Printed die-cut token sheets, in color, of all the tokens that come with each adventure. These are printed on 1.6mm gloss-laminated stock . . . but see the stretch goals!
• Color PDFs of the token sheets that come with the adventure. This is to support those with print-it-yourself aspirations who have quality color inkjet or laser printers and for folks who want more of a particular token.
• UV-gloss laminated NPC and Monster cards. A minimum of 42 cards will be provided, but see the stretch goals: if we get enough orders, I'll include more cards in the deck. Maybe a lot more.
• Color PDFs of the NPC/Monster cards, with a hyperlinked table of contents for quick r
  eference

These are discounted as a bundle from their price as individual add-ons (see below for item pricing)

New Stretch Goal: FIFTH Perilous Journey

If we pass $21,000 . . . the campaign turns into FIVE Perilous Journeys. After listening to feedback on what the backers want, I talked with David Pulver, and we came up with some thing for you. If we hit $21,000 the following 32-page solo adventure will be included in both the $20 PDF and $50 Print+PDF adventure groups. ANY pledge tier that includes the original four 16-page adventures will include this fifth perilous journey at no additional cost.

Vampire Hunter Belladonna

You are Belladonna, the young maid and cook at Castle Ironskull—moonlighting as a vampire slayer!

Years ago, the sinister Lord Adrik Blackbird turned your best friend into a vampire. For their own good, you had to stake them both! Somehow, you succeeded—but while those vampires perished, they had already infected others. The bloodsuckers will spread like a plague through the local countryside—unless you hunt them down!

Play as the lethal maid Belladonna (wielder of silver stakes and deadly poisons), or as your own vampire slaying hero or wizard. Travel through the villages and wilderness near Ironskull Castle, hunting vampires (and possibly other monsters). During your quest, you may uncover disturbing rumors of the rise of a new and terrifying master vampire, and the arcane relic they seek. Can you find it first?

Vampire Hunter Belladonna is a programmed adventure for The Fantasy Trip. You won't need a Game Master—instead a system of branching paragraphs directs you from encounter to encounter as you make your own choice. You resolve combat or other encounters using the TFT rules.

In this double-sized 32-page adventure, you will find:

• Over 200 paragraphs detailing wilderness and village encounters.
• Multiple new monsters (not just vampires!) and magic items.
• A "sandbox" wilderness setting that can reward multiple plays.
• A choice of using the included pre-generated characters or your existing PC.

VAMPIRE HUNTER BELLADONNA is an independent adventure, but it has ties to IRONSKULL CASTLE, so you can use both together in a campaign if you wish. If you think of it as "Vampire Hunter B," we won't mind that either.

If this stretch goal is reached, a fifth token sheet will be made available and included in the "All the Things" level pledges for no additional cost.


Check out the full campaign page: Four Perilous Journeys. There are new stretch goals as well as more information on the rewards and pledge levels.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I looked at the $50 all the digital and it lists a print copy. Is that an error?

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Indeed, that was an error. I have closed that reward level to new backers, made a ALL THE DIGITAL (Revised) level that lacks the print reward, and asked those in the one tier to switch to the other, with the acknowledgement that I'll own the mistake if they don't.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

The Character and NPC cards are calling me...

Summon Malchidael's Wallet - IQ 10, 1 ST, plus 10 ST if Mal's wife finds out. If casting results in ST falling below zero, Mal is sleeping in the garage.

Tokens are beautiful. I'm a minis guy, not a token guy (still haven't punched any of the tokens from TFT LE). Still, if I'm upgrading my pledge for the cards, I may as well go for All The Things!

Time to move a cot into the garage :)

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I hear ya Bro.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Fortunately, I was able to avoid dipping into the Fun Fund for a non-Gaming expense, so I think I will survive (this time).....

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Holy Wow

Yesterday was nearly unreal.

I mean, I was listening to y'all, and I thought I heard what you wanted. Thanks for supporting my attempt to give it to you!

Just for perspective, we increased the funding total by 22% in one day. That day was in the middle of the campaign, as well, when the daily total is usually about 1/10 the average of the first two days. In our case, we increased campaign funding by $4,220 against an expected baseline of about $520.

That, as they say, ain't bad.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

the final Decks of Destiny / Four (FIVE!) Perilous Journeys cross-campaign stretch goal has fallen, as 4PJ has crossed the $25,000 funding level with eight days left to go in the campaign.

Thank you!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Slack-Jawed and Amazed

Good morning! We're entering the final week of the Four Perilous Journeys campaign, and I still can't help but pinching myself a bit watching the thing go.

I mean, we radically changed trajectory four days ago, with 10 days to go. This mostly doesn't happen when it comes to Kickstarters. Not in the middle of the campaign like this!

In any case we shall see. There are a couple milestones coming up:

• If we get another 46 physical orders, we'll start moving past the minimum order quantity from my printer. That's kind of fun . . . and extra books past that first setup charge are very affordable (the beauty of offset print). That's a good place to be for the campaign
• We're 121 backers away from being my most-backed Kickstarter campaign ever.

Progress: Tokens, Art, and Layout

I wrote art guidelines last Friday. I did mention the tokens were prototypes, so here's what I can tell you about the final tokens

• The tokens will be full-body images, but in color with a contrasting color background.
• The black-and-white tokens will have the background removed so that it is just a color or gray scale figure on a white background.
• The tokens and color PDFs will have the background inserted so that you can tell the monster or NPC type or role by what color it is.
• The NPC and monster cards will have 2” x 2” versions of the same token art...without the background
• I am a big fan of using layers in PDF files, so that color PDF that comes with the All the Things pledges will have the ability to turn the background OFF if you want to print your own color tokens that way

Starting this week, I'll be heavy into writing art direction, parallel processing with the final editing and layout of the fourth adventure.

Speaking of adventures, Curse of the Pirate King is finished with editing and layout. It's with the authors in prelim PDF form for a once-over, as we modified the structure of the great ideas contained in the book to ensure they were dealt with - wherever possible - by proactive player action (also called agency). They need to look it over (as do I, with fresh eyes) to ensure it's good enough to send out for playtest.

I expect to get corrections and edits from playtesters on Citadel of Ice and maybe some Ironskull castle as well. In a day or two, when those come in, the Master and Commander and the League and the Legion backers will get updated copies of all three for feedback.

Everything is now on the Table

I'm not holding anything back on this one for last-minute enticements or surprise stretch goals. The substantial re-orientation of the project - successful, gauging by the response! - was "the big thing" for this one. Right now, we're at a good place, and every effort will be focused on completing what we have promised, on time or ahead of schedule.

Probably on time for this one. The project has a lot of moving parts.

Thanks for coming along on this Perilous Journey with me. As always, a quick tweet, response on a thread on BoardGameGeek or RPGPub or any of the others, or a nice comment in an RPG reddit or Facebook group from "not the creator" goes a long way!

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

For the physical items, could you clarify (on the campaign page) exactly what PDFs (if any) they include? For instance, "Print Quartermaster" says it includes both print and PDF versions -- but is that all the PDFs as listed in "All the Digital Things", including the token sheets and monster cards, or just a PDF of the adventures themselves? Similarly, if you get the NPC/Creature Deck addon, does that also include the PDF version?

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

By and large, the physical pledges include PDFs of the print versions of what you order.

Print Quartermaster includes Print and PDF copies of the adventures (five of them, now).

Bring Me All the Things includes Print and PDF copies of all five adventures, five token sheets, and the card deck.

The $40 quoted price for the card deck is for the physical item ONLY. I usually offer bundles on my stuff as add-ons for the price of the physical good (the $40 card deck) plus HALF the price of the PDF (half of $20 for the deck PDF, or $10). So as an add-on, you can get physical only for $40, PDF-only for $20, or bundled for $50.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I think your experience here proves the comment made by Phil Reed in that interview over on EN World -- "TFT players like physical things." I know you have more adventures you're planning on Kickstarting later on in the year, so my advice is get the physical stuff figured before you launch and include it from the start in the next one. You won't see that funky "bent pyramid" backer curve like you did with this one (you'll get the usual "bathtub" curve instead), but you WILL get more backers in for more $$ from the get-go!

Of course, my advice is worth exactly what you paid for it, and I have no idea what the moving parts are actually like in setting up for a kickstarter, but for whatever it's worth, that's my two cents on the subject! ;-)

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Your comments pretty much mirror my conversations with my current (and a few future, I hope) authors:

1) Even out the solos and GM'd adventures. Probably 2 each, with a fifth adventure out there as a stretch goal.
2) Tokens for each adventure.
3) NPC/Monster cards in 3.5x5" format as well.

There's lots of runway between now and the next one, I think. I should be able to work that supply chain harder.

Doug

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Thanks for the clarification. I think my confusion stemmed from my bad assumption that the token sheets came with the print adventures, rather than there being a "just the adventures" level. The pattern is pretty clear once I fix that in my head. And the new campaign page update makes it pretty straightforward even for people like me :)

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

It's likely that confusion was caused by my statements that the back page of the book will have tokens you can print yourself; the entire back page is reserved for such things.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Four Perilous Journeys: The Home Stretch

This blog post consolidates a funding update (only a few pledges from $30K), some cover design work, and next steps into one place.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

The wording of the Print Quartermaster pledge level, "Each 16-page adventure is black and white interior with a color cover, and includes the adventure, maps, and of course, all the tokens and icons you need to play each one!" does lead one to think that tokens are included. But, I gather, these are not the die-cut tokens mentioned in the Bring Me the Things. All of Them level.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

We now have 2 days to go in the Kickstarter campaign for Four Perilous Journeys: New Adventures for The Fantasy Trip. During the last half of the campaign, a fifth adventure was added (a 32-page solo), as well as physical goods depending on pledge level: counters representing monsters from the adventures (a 42-counter die-cut sheet), and 3.5x5" NPC/Monster cards that will shuffle in with your Decks of Destiny card deck.

All five adventures get high-quality offset print runs, with color covers and black and white interiors on 130gsm (about 87#) paper.

There's a lot more value to add to your Fantasy Trip collection!

If you've been waiting to pledge, please jump in! If you've been following the campaign, now's the time.

If you pledged early (thank you!) you might want to review all the new goodies and consider if you're still at the right level - PDF lovers, there's an "ALL THE DIGITAL THINGS" new pledge with all five adventures, a PDF of the color token sheets, and a PDF of the NPC/Monster cards now.

Thanks! Let's finish strong.

48 hours left: Four Perilous Journeys on Kickstarter

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I notice you've got a 43 point NPC in there. My understanding is that there is no plausible way to create such a powerful humanoid character through XP. Is there some back story that lets her get there using major wishes or something?

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

GMs and adventure-crafters are not bound to the rules that govern player characters. One of the greatest things of a fantasy roleplaying game: The only limit is the imagination of the person creating the adventure.

Trying to "build" NPCs and creatures using the same guidelines that allow for the creation of player characters is an unnecessary limitation on the imagination of the GM and the authors.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I submitted a FAQ question for this but I'll ask here too...

What are the recommended PC XP amounts and number of PCs for the adventures?

We played through the Chaos Triads a while back with 3 high-XP PCs and (what I thought was) a reasonable budget for magic items and it was a complete walk-through -- and it gave me a real gut-level experience of why so many people are counseling limitations on Stone Flesh and Iron Flesh items...

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I believe the authors intent is something like 34-36 point characters, but I will make sure that each adventure's point total is clearly labeled . . . both on the interior and on the cover.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

There can be a more mundane answer for this particular NPC; her individual stats and stat total can be reached by a PC without stretching credulity if that character got access to a couple of Greater Wishes at the right time in her career.

But it is an opportunity for a broader discussion. How you approach this issue is a judgement call, and obviously the judgement of the folks making the product is what will end up in the books. And, the position you articulate is line with 'business as usual' in some games (e.g., Tunnels and Trolls products always felt free to populate the universe with any NPC power that struck the GM's fancy). But I feel it violates an unstated but important core concept behind TFT's design: it is basically fair.

My 'meta' interpretation is that this arose, intentionally or unintentionally, from the fact that TFT's origin story is as a competitive board game, and no one wants to play a competitive board game that is rigged for one side. Whatever the thought process was, the end result is that the balance of powers among many different character types, and between the basic properties of PC's and NPC's, is balanced. It all feels pretty fair. The new edition makes the game even more like this, by leveling the playing field for the various humanoid races (i.e., a starting reptile man and goblin used to be radically different stats; now they are the same).

There are things in the game that live outside of that level playing field: Trolls and dragons and wraiths and so forth all have attribute scores and special abilities that can't be reached by PCs. But my opinion is that it breaks an implicit contract in TFT's design when NPCs who are basically mundane humanoid beings get powers that no PC could ever achieve. Anyway, I would not do it, and when I encounter it I modify them to be part of the same 'universe' in which the PC's live.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

This is true for my two.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I've never cared much for experience point systems in RPGs, so I didn't pay much attention to the original TFT system nor am I much interested in the Legacy Edition XP system.

Having said that, if a human Player Character can attain a 20 in one attribute, then I see no reason why they can't potentially attain a 20 in all three attributes.

That means the most powerful characters would have 60 Attribute points (or maybe even more.)

Now, how easily you want this to be achieved is up to you. I'll certainly allow 60+ point characters in my games, but they will likely be NPCs as I'd make it incredibly difficult for a PC to reach that level.

But maybe not impossible.

That's a convulated way of saying that I agree that NPCs should have any Attributes required by the GM or Scenario designers.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

There's two factors at play here, I think. The one I want to talk about, though, is the many-on-one problem.

That is: you're going to show up with three to six characters played by three to six players in all likelihood. The GM gets to play the bad guy and ALL the other guys.

If you play even-steven, and make the Big Bad Nemesis mostly play by the same rules and point totals as the Good Guys (or at least Team Us), then BBEG invariably gets curb-stomped.

Sure, you can try and load up on henchmen, but the kind of combined arms, every move carefully planned, clever exploits are go! play that the players usually can bring is frequently lost in "the GM is running 15 guys."

So in order to make and keep the bad guy a threat in the face of four-on-one odds, they get up-gunned.

And even when the GM does up-gun them, outrageously so, the many-on-one thing still is the trump card. Christopher Rice just GM'd a GURPS supers game where he "cheated" outrageously. His bad guy was designed to probably kill half of us (and my guy is a 2,000 point super). PLUS a team of high-skill super-commandoes and then even more mookish guys with firearms.

We steam-rollered them. Wasn't even really much of a contest. We came up with a plan, executed the plan, and it worked. Many-on-one for the win.

So . . . my experience is that unless you up-gun your bad guys, there's not much of a game there. I think that TFT does better at this than many other games, but I also suspect that it's still prone to it.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

I follow your sentiment but am not sure what you are suggesting in practical terms. Presumably you do use some sort of XP system for player characters, don't you? Whatever its details might be, when it comes time to actually play a campaign you must have some answer to the question of how PC's advance in ability over time. Is that handled by GM decision, or through the mechanism of concrete rules?

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

Whatever causes fun is the rule for me.

Re: Four Perilous Journeys: Four new adventures for The Fantasy Trip
 

When we were playing TFT in the 80s, eventually it got down to the GM just saying, "Ok, everyone take an attribute point." Of course back then that was the only thing you could but with XP. Now there are a lot more options so the analog now might be something like awarding a block of XP at the end of a story.